Paramedic Murray Traynor awarded Ambulance Service Medal

Woodford’s Murray Traynor can remember the monster-sized waves and battering winds that struck 50km off Merimbula’s shores during the 1998 Sydney to Hobart yacht race like it was yesterday.

The experienced Springwood and Penrith-based Ambulance Service of NSW paramedic was winched from a CareFlight helicopter down to the treacherous waters multiple times and successfully rescued the seven surviving crew members of a badly damaged 12-metre yacht.

Sadly, two sailors died before help could arrive.

“The conditions were atrocious and I remember the waves were so big that to see the horizon I had to look up at an angle of about 45 degrees,” he said last week.

“But you train for all these different types of things and the team that are in the aircraft, well, you can trust them with your life.”

That job, done in the worst possible conditions, saw Mr Traynor receive a Bravery Medal the following year and his crew a group citation for bravery.

Mr Traynor’s 27-year-career was recognised with an Ambulance Service Medal in Sunday’s Australia Day honours, especially for contribution to enhancing clinical standards in the service.